Recommendations by Professor Rita de la Feria led to reforms implemented in the Portugal’s 2012 State Budget which boosted the efficiency of tax and generated savings of 1.2 per cent GDP.

Five datasets hosted by the Economic and social Data underpin the research evidence which UK and Scottish governments are using for plans to reduce alcohol misuse.

Social scientists from the ESRC’s Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) at Cardiff University have developed a new methodology that allows findings to go beyond narrow academic circles. In a study of the impact of the single use carrier bag levy, introduced by the Welsh Government in 2011, BRASS academics designed their research with media interest and the general public in mind.

One of the challenges of using cross-national surveys for policy and practice is the need to reliably compare results from different countries. The Latent Variable Modelling of Categorical Data project developed computing tools to help researchers determine how comparable the results are - enabling surveys to deliver better and more reliable policy recommendations.

Researchers from Bristol University's Centre for Market and Public Organisation evaluated school performance tables as predictors of children's likely exam performance. Their proposed alternative approach, offering improvements in functionality, was adopted by the Department for Education and implemented for the first time in the school league tables published early in 2012.

Researchers at Loughborough University have shown that self-help sleep management, based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can improve sleep quality and duration. The research team are now delivering CBT training for insomnia to NHS therapists throughout the UK.

Researchers from the Centre for Economic Performance and the Spatial Economics Research Centre analysed the impact of reforms in health care, where private hospitals could compete with NHS hospitals on publicly funded care. Their findings were cited by all three main political parties in debates and shaped the design of the NHS reform bill, which became an Act of Parliament in March 2012.

Researchers at the University of Leeds, carried out the largest study to date of the erotic dancing industry in the UK night-time economy to assess the realities of negative claims about the industry. Following co-operation with the researchers, Local Authorities such as Leeds, Blackpool, Manchester and Camden have adopted specific 'good practice' procedures, while a number of initiatives are ongoing to improve safety, licensing, working conditions and welfare of dancers.

Nanotechnologies - tiny devices and systems on a nanoscale - are developing so fast that regulation has been struggling to keep up. In recent years there have been growing fears about the potential risks to human health and the environment from nanotechnology.

The UK Government established Sure Start in 1999 to provide integrated early years services primarily targeted on disadvantaged groups. One of its main architects, Norman Glass of HM Treasury, described it as "an outstanding example of evidence-based policy."